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Thursday, December 17, 2009
LIVE REVIEW - Deck the Hall Ball 12/15/09 WAMU Theater Seattle, WA
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
After a good first evening at Elysian Brewing, we bedded down and prepared for the epic day ahead of us. I awoke at 8am and shot over to a nearby coffee shop to do work until 2:30, only to have my friend fill me in on my car's situation. The brakes were grinding, which meant the rotors were in danger of being done. We drove over to Midas and let them take a look, only to find, yes they need to be replaced, yes the pads on these foreign cars don't do the tell-tale squeal sound when they're almost used up, yes this will cost you over $400 to repair, no you can't leave with the car legally until it's fixed. Oh and happy holidays.So we walked in the rain through downtown Seattle for awhile, stopping to get a beer and try not to think about how we'd afford this with my whole family coming in a week for Xmas. We grabbed the car shortly after, gathered our thoughts, and headed over to the Wamu Theater to see the Deck the Hall Ball.
We arrived as Vampire Weekend was playing, catching only three songs of theirs before the headed off. They were pretty decent, I'd never caught them while I was living in Brooklyn. The crowd seemed to like them a lot. We found a couple seats about level with the stage in the back, and reclined for the remainder of the show, my girlfriend loving it because she could see perfectly for once.
After Vampire Weekend came Phoenix. I'm not a huge fan, but I was interested to see how they were live. The crowd loved them, they went crazy during their 30 minute set. The band seemed really surprised and humbled by the whole thing, and played twice as hard. The set ended with the singer requesting the crowd to surf him over to the sound board so he could wish their FOH guy Happy Birthday, to which they relished in obliging.
Next came Metric, and they didn't disappoint, opening with one of my favorites, "Dead Disco". I really like the dynamic of the band and guitarist Jimmy Shaw's technique live. And Emily Haines is one of my favorite rockstars, she's energetic and a great songwriter (and not too bad to look at). They rifled through their quick set with mostly hits from their newest album Fantasies. Its funny because I've been listening to that album since January, yet most people still just found out about them. I'm happy they're getting a bit more recognition, though the majority of the crowd was unenthusiastic. I think that was because it was an all ages show and the kids aren't really Metric's main draw. I think they're more popular in the late 20's set.
Next was the excruciatingly awful 30 Seconds to Mars set. I was so pissed they got a 45 minute set, taking away time from the rest of the bands. If they were excluded, this show would have been one of the best of the year for me. Jared Leto spent half the show swearing to try and rile up the crowd, which had no desire to hear his bullshit. At one point he sat on stage alone with an acoustic guitar, just bullshitting. He asked the crowd for requests, before ignoring them and playing some old song. The amount of "MOTHER FUCKERS!!!!!" that he yelled that night were too numerous to count, I mean, who says that nowadays? Was this the Up In Smoke Tour? 45 horrible minutes later, and really only like 5-6 songs later, they left the stage.
The excitement began to build for Muse, the kids were getting rowdy and people began chanting for the band. Before the set, I really had no idea what I was going to see. I'm a decent Muse fan, I like their tunes, their lyrics are lame but I feel like their cliche feel is to add to the affect overall. There's a couple songs of theirs I absolutely love, so I was hoping to hear those. Jenny is a massive fan, so she's the real reason I dropped $60 for each of us to see this. I had heard from others their live show blows everything else away, so I knew I had to see them, and to do so in such a small place, its max capacity is 7000, was a big deal. Especially because the rest of the tour they announced takes place in huge arenas. The WAMU was quite a piece though. It was really just a big warehouse with a circle of curtains around the outside of the perimeter from the stage to knock down the reflections. It didn't work well for most of the bands, so I was really hoping that Muse's sound was better.
After a loooooooong time, Muse finally showed up on stage to an ecstatic crowd. They immediately ripped into "MK Ultra" from their new album The Resistance and the sound immediately revealed itself to be pure and clean. Matt Bellamy's guitar tone was probably one of the cleanest and cutting tones I'd heard in a live setting ever. I was amazed at how well the band was mixed. I had read about how Matt is a purist when recording as well, using only one guitar amp and track per song to make it sound bigger than cramming a bunch of overdubs into a song.
The set list went like this:
- MK ULTRAInterlude + Hysteria Resistance Supermassive Black Hole Unnatural Selection United States of Eurasia Uprising Starlight Time Is Running Out Plug In Baby Man with a Harmonica intro into Knights of Cydonia
Muse had first formed around when they were 15, which is amazing in itself, so to see them play as one of the best live bands period was quite a treat. They basically played everything I wanted to hear, and stayed away from playing too much new stuff. Since it was an abbreviated set, I think they knew they had to play the hits, so we all won. Seriously, Matt is such a badass, shredding on his knees, guitar overhead, skipping around stage in the midst of a solo, and all the while belting out perfectly. The rest of the band was on point, the bassist and drummer in sync like nothing I've seen. That huge bass sound that held down every song was quite a thing to hear. The crowd was eating up every second of it, pogoing like mad and chanting the lyrics along. When they broke into "Supermassive Blackhole" Matt was writhing with the beat and the crowd did its best to match his falsetto. When they began "Starlight," one of my favorites and one of their best, the crowd lost it. Throughout the set, I just felt the stress melt away and I truly enjoyed every second, something I rarely feel in any show.
The last time I felt so impressed was when I first saw Radiohead in a similarly sized arena that shared the same name, WAMU theater in MSG, summer 2006. Comparing both shows and bands is completely unfair, Radiohead are like Gods, Muse are like the band that the Gods choose to play for them. The obvious similarities are really irrelevant. Radiohead shows are like going to church or something spiritual. Muse is like something completely different, it's more like an experience, an event, a rally if you will. They rock out, they go nuts, they shred and jam. Radiohead doesn't rock out, though Thom does dance like a maddened elf. Comparisons aside, I'll still take Radiohead over Muse any day, but seriously, you need to see Muse live. The best illustration I can give you: watching them is like standing in front of a 50 foot high speaker at full blast and loving every second of it. They're coming back in April, and I'm considering it already.
As the show started to draw to a close, my girl friend pointed out something that made the whole night come into focus a bit. Throughout the show, each band stated how amazed and humbled they were to be opening for Muse, which is kind of interesting considering the background and fans of each. During "Plug In Baby" I followed my girl's finger to see Emily Haines in her silver dress, dancing her ass off in the VIP area near the sound board. She was jumping and twirling just as, if not more, hard to Muse than she had for her own set. I honestly didn't expect that, but I guess that there are some bands that everyone has to appreciate, if not for the grandiose songwriting, then for the unbelievable and undeniable talent that some bands showcase without effort.
02/27 - Atlanta, GA @ The Arena at Gwinnett Center *
03/01 - Fairfax, VA @ Patriot Center *
03/02 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center *
03/05 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden *
03/06 - Boston, MA @ TD Garden *
03/08 - Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Center *
03/10 - Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell *
03/12 - Chicago, IL @ United Center *
03/13 - Auburn Hills, MI @ The Palace *
03/15 - Nashville, TN @ Sommet Center *
03/17 - Forth Worth, TX @ Forth Worth Convention Center *
03/18 - Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
03/29 - Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place *
03/30 - Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddledome *
04/01 - Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum *
03/01 - Fairfax, VA @ Patriot Center *
03/02 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Center *
03/05 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden *
03/06 - Boston, MA @ TD Garden *
03/08 - Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Center *
03/10 - Montreal, QC @ Centre Bell *
03/12 - Chicago, IL @ United Center *
03/13 - Auburn Hills, MI @ The Palace *
03/15 - Nashville, TN @ Sommet Center *
03/17 - Forth Worth, TX @ Forth Worth Convention Center *
03/18 - Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
03/29 - Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place *
03/30 - Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddledome *
04/01 - Vancouver, BC @ Pacific Coliseum *
04/02 - Seattle, WA @ Key Arena *
04/03 - Portland, OR @ Rose Garden Center *
04/05 - Salt Lake CIty, UT @ The E Center *
04/06 - Denver, CO @ Odeum *
04/09 - Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center *
04/14 - San Francisco, CA @ Oracle Center *
04/03 - Portland, OR @ Rose Garden Center *
04/05 - Salt Lake CIty, UT @ The E Center *
04/06 - Denver, CO @ Odeum *
04/09 - Phoenix, AZ @ US Airways Center *
04/14 - San Francisco, CA @ Oracle Center *
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1 comments:
MUSE ROCKS!
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